Turkiye is a geographically large and populous country bridging Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Turkiye has high rates of digital literacy, mobile and fixed broadband usage, and draws considerable traffic flows. Many neighboring countries to the east and south connect to Turkey for internet connectivity. Despite this, the IXP ecosystem remains relatively underdeveloped, with significant traffic being exchanged in Sofia rather than within Turkiye. We will present an overview of the Turkish internet ecosystem:
• Operators and market structure
• Infrastructure realities (access, metro, and intercity networks)
• Data centers and Hosters
• Content providers and Cloud players
• IXPs, cybersecurity solution providers, etc
• Licensing regime, regulatory and relevant government authorities
• Domestic and international Traffic flows
and discuss needs and opportunities as well as possible ways forward. The regulator has placed IXPs on its work program and is actively soliciting views on how to help foster domestic IXPs. The regulator is especially keen to retain certain sensitive and / or essential traffic flows within the country’s borders to ensure digital sovereignty and digital continuity.
Given the geography and size of Turkiye as well as traffic pull from eastern and southern neighbors, we will investigate regional peering models, chicken-egg issues regarding data centers outside of the main 2-3 cities, and potential involvement of the NREN Ulakbim (Geant member) for colo and administration. We will stress the potential wider value for the domestic ecosystem of thriving IXPs, such as its positive impact for fostering security, content and other value-added start-ups and providers.
Following the presentation, both in Q&A as well as in coffee breaks, we will solicit and seek to benefit from the views, advice and wisdom of participants.